Capcom “saddened” by its own apparent theft of ‘Splosion Man

Capcom seems to have copied the Xbox Live Arcade game 'Splosion Man for its …

Seeing iPhone and portable game developers copy from well-known releases on game consoles is nothing new, but Capcom's newest iPhone game—called MaXplosion—went a little further than taking themes and aesthetics from a well-known game. It copied nearly everything from the Xbox Live Arcade hit 'Splosion Man, created by Twisted Pixel. We've embedded some videos so you can see for yourself, and the situation is serious enough that both Capcom and Twisted Pixel have released statements.

As of now it seems like no legal action will be taken, but this has become a minor controversy across gaming message boards and Twitter. Is copying a well-known game on another device worth the bad press?

Maxplosion

'Splosion Man

First things first: check out the above video to see the games. They both feature a red demon-like character that runs left and right, jumps, and explodes as a means of solving problems. Even the names are similar. 'Splosion Man is a well-known game, and Twisted Pixel is a celebrated indie developer with a number of games under its belt... it's hard to believe this is coincidental. It's also worth pointing out that 'Splosion Man was pitched to Capcom, which passed on the game.

Mike Henry of Twisted Pixel comments on Twitter

"We're definitely not going to pursue legal action. While I think the similarities are pretty nauseating, we're too small to take on a company like Capcom," Twisted Pixel said in a statement. "That, and we owe them one for inventing Mega Man, so we'll let them slide. I just hope they're not counting on the fact that indies can't fight back." This hasn't kept Twisted Pixel's Mike Henry from aiming some cheap, if funny, shots at Capcom via Twitter.

So Capcom has no legal action to fear, but they're going to take quite the PR hit. "In general, anything that would take our focus off of making games would be a bad decision, I think. We just need to keep our heads down making the next thing so that Capcom has something to steal next year... We'll just have to make our own mobile game and I'm hopeful that Capcom will see that robbing our s**t wasn't worth it in the long run," the statement continues.

Capcom is "saddened"

Capcom seemed to have chosen its words carefully, while not saying much at all. "While Twisted Pixel did have discussions with our console game team about publishing Splosion Man on game consoles, Capcom Mobile is a different division of Capcom with separate offices and as such, had no prior knowledge of any meetings between the console game team and Twisted Pixel," the company pointed out in a statement. "MaXplosion was developed independently by Capcom Mobile. Nonetheless, we are saddened by this situation and hope to rebuild the trust of our fans and friends in the gaming community."

Henry didn't seem to take much solace in the statement. "'Saddened' by what, I wonder?" he said via Twitter. "That they got caught? That they got a bunch of attention they wouldn't have otherwise?"

"The video game industry has always played around a limited number of themes. There is maybe one new idea a year," Michel Guillemot, founder and CEO of Gameloft, said in an interview with IGN. Gameloft has also been criticized for lifting heavily from console games for its phone-based releases, which seem to copy big-name releases right up to the point where it would be actionable. This is common practice, but it's a tricky thing for the copycats... all it's going to take is one pissed-off developer and a sympathetic judge for the plan to backfire.

Capcom is a company with a number of successful franchises and a good reputation among gamers. MaXplosion may not lose money directly, but the company suddenly looks like a Goliath picking on a very popular David, which is not a good position to be in.